Southampton primary school faces backlash after dropping Judaism from Religious Education curriculum

Members of the Jewish community have expressed concern after it was revealed that a primary school in Southampton presented a Religious Education syllabus that does not include Judaism.

Foundry Lane Primary School presented its new syllabus at the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) meeting at Southampton City Council. It does not include Judaism as a “core” subject, but will cover some Jewish traditions and festivals, including Shabbat, Sukkot, Hanukkah, and Passover.

A representative of the school justified the decision in a statement, saying: “We do not have any Jewish students or teachers in our school. We have a focus on teaching Islam to try to combat the rise of Islamophobia.”

Some members of the Jewish community, however, have expressed about the omission, explaining that it is precisely because there are no Jews in the school community that it is important to teach Judaism, because if children never encounter any Jews and are not taught about Jewish faith and practice, they may develop inaccurate or false ideas which may affect them later in life.

Campaign Against Antisemitism works to raise awareness of antisemitism among all faith and minority communities.

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